


The Dark Kingdom

by cats_pajamies



Category: Thomas Sanders
Genre: M/M, Sanders Sides - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-24
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-10-09 23:23:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 12,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10424115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cats_pajamies/pseuds/cats_pajamies
Summary: Prince Roman travels to the forgotten kingdom of darkness and what waits for him there will change his life.  Meanwhile, Prince Logan is stuck teaching the royalty of a neighboring kingdom, but will their Prince teach him something in return?*Thomas Sanders fanfic with the sanders sides*





	1. Prologue-The World and the princes

There are 4 kingdoms. The land reflects itself upon the rulers....or maybe the rulers reflect themselves upon the land, none are sure. 

__________

"Such lovely children. You must be so proud of you kids," a woman from a visiting land said. "They're not my kids. My younger siblings," He replied with a good-natured laugh. This happened all the time and as a Prince people would assume that he would have had children with at least one woman, even though he was not yet wed. Their assumptions didn't bother him. He loved the kids as if they were his kids and not his siblings. He sighed over the letter if he had to do this to stay with them and help them he would. Outside one of the many trees was slowly being torn down.

__________

He was tired. He had taught children all day and even though he enjoyed it sometimes it was hard, especially when the kids were showing emotions. He sighed and wondered what the response to his letter would be. Logically speaking what he proposed was the best option, but the recipient was known for being illogical. Beneath the calm surface of a nearby lake was not calm at all.

__________

He wanted adventure. He only had a little time left before he would become king and would be trapped in the castle for the rest of the life. He needed to see more of the world before that happened. He sighed and pondered his choices. A beautiful flower in a field of many slowly started to wilt.

__________

Darkness was all he saw. "What am I going to do?" was thought. Fear was all he felt. "How can I protect them?" was said. Life was pain. "Why me?" was whispered. He cried hoping it would offer some relief. The wind kicked up turning into a violent force. Darker and darker his world became.


	2. Chapter 1-Flowers and Briars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Prince Roman's point of view*

He got up and looked out the field of flowers and how amazingly beautiful they were and all he felt was guilty. He loved this place, but all he wanted to do was leave it all behind for something else, something more. Sure, it was nice here, but there were only people you could save and monsters you could slay before it got tiring, before it was no longer an adventure and now just another boring task. 

"What should I do? I need to stay for my family, but what happens then? What happens if I leave? What is the right answer?" He thought and kept thinking over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. He took a deep breath and walked over to his horse, Vera, saddled Vera up and started the ride home.

"Do I really need to leave?" clomp "Where would I go if I did" clomp "What would my family think?" clomp "What if my time comes while I'm away?" clo- He fell off of Vera. He hadn't fallen off of a horse since he was five. He was an expert rider, one of the best in the land so how did he fall off of Vera. 

Well, that was apparent when he got up and brushed himself off. He had gone in the wrong direction and ended up not closer to his own home but at the edge of the brairs that protect the dark kingdom from the rest of the world or if you believed the rumors the rest of the world from the dark kingdom. 

He was drawn to it, he wanted to push pass the brairs and enter the darkness. He didn't know why no one ever dared enter the darkness, no one was even sure if there was still people in there anymore. Sure, ever once in a while someone would come out of the briars, but they never spoke of went on in the dark kingdom of Attisa. 

He blinked and shook his head causing brown hair to fall over brown eyes but he did not care. Fear had made its way under his skin. He wouldn't, no couldn't stay near the darkness any longer. He got on Vera and fled, urging the horse faster and faster until he had no idea where he was, but he didn't care, he only cared that he was away from the dark kingdom and closer to his own kingdom of Palatine, closer to the bright colors warmth and joy and farther away from the darkness and sadness of the woods. 

When he finally got home it was well into the night, but it was nor dark because the moon always illuminated Palatine for than any of the other kingdoms. He entered the castle and hoped he could avoid his father. He couldn't.

"Where were you?" A clearly worried voice said

"In the flower fields. I was thinking," he replied hoping to get away quickly

"I'm glad your safe, you didn't tell anyone you were leaving." the voice, his father said a little less worried. 

"Sorry," He said feeling mildly guilty

"Please, be careful, the flower fields are by Attisa. I would be heartbroken if I lost you." His father said putting salt in the would

"I will be. I'm going to my room. Love you." he said guilt now apparent in his voice

"I love you too. Roman Oh, and I'll be proud of you no matter what you do, I promise," his father replied in a knowing town, while also trying to ease the guilt out of his son. 

Roman went to his room and wrote a note, packed his bag and left in the dead of night. He didn't know where he was going to go, but his heart did.

The note read

"Dear Father,

I am sorry, but I have to go. I have a feeling that you knew this. I promise you I will stay safe and I will come back before it is my time. I love you and I'll miss you, but I have to do this.

-With love from your favorite and only son Roman"


	3. Chapter 2-The Dark Prince

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we discover a dark world.
> 
> *Trigger warning for depressive episode*

He awoke with start. For a minute he panicked not knowing where he was, what was happening, or why he had woken up so suddenly. He took a breath and looked around.

"I am in my room. I've just woken up in the middle of the night. I woke up because I had a weird dream," He thought, trying to calm down. The dream in question had quickly faded, but in its place, it left a sense of loneliness stronger than he usually felt. 

He slowly climbed out of bed even though he would have preferred to stay in his nice warm bed, with its nice warm blankets, and nice warm stuffed animals. He could just hide under the blankets all day. No one would bother him and- he shook his head. 

"Nope, can't be thinking like that today. Today is going be a good day. I'll talk to people I'll be helpful and I'll get work done. It will be a good day," He thought each word helping him take a step forward until he was facing the door. 

Another breath. A moment of hesitation. A spike in fear. Rain starts to fall. He sits down. Breath one more time. And another time. Just a few more breaths. Thunder sounds. Lightning flashes. Tears well up in his eyes. Blink a few times. Tears fall. A sob escapes his mouth. Thoughts start looping. 

"Why are you like this? Just open the door. Please, I promise it'll be fine. You just need to open the door. What are you scared of? Nothing out there will hurt you. You're supposed to help them. How can you help them if you can't help yourself? Please," over and over and over and over again, until he didn't know how long he had been curled in a ball. 

"Today was suppose to be a good day," he whispered. A sob forced itself out of his body before he took another deep breath.

"Today isn't over yet. It can still be a good day," he thought hoping that it would give him enough strength to get off of the floor at least. He slowly began to rise, keeping his breathing throughout the entire motion. He reaches to open the doorknob, but someone else beats him to it.

"There you are!" A woman's voice exclaimed. 

"Yeah" he mumbled not sure what type of response she wanted. 

"We were worried." she explained to him.

"Why?" he questioned still not understanding. 

"Because no one's seen you." she elaborated

"Oh, sorry" he mumbled feeling guilty

"It's ok," she said in a caring way. 

"Is there anything else you need?" he asked wanting to end this conversation quickly.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Prince Roman was spotted nearby earlier today," she said, although she did not almost forget, it was her reason for coming here. 

"Who?" he asked, searching his memory for the name. 

"The Prince of Palatine," she said, not losing any of her patience.

"I really don't like that guy," he said when he realized who it was.

"I know. I'll be back with some food, ok?" she said in a motherly was before leaving the room.

"Yeah, thanks," he said to a closed door. 

He smiled. He was glad that someone had come to check on him. He was especially glad that it was his old nursemaid. The rain lightened. He had a lot of good times with her before everything went bad. Before the briars came and the sun stopped shining.

A knock at the door. She didn't wait before entering the room. She smiled a little when she say how happy he was. She worried about him, but she had to tell him the news so he was prepared for what was to come next. 

"Prince Roman from Palatine has cut through the briars and is now approaching Attisa," she said trying her hardest to lower the impact the words had.

The Dark Prince of the dark kingdom called Attisa world had just turned darker and darker.


	4. Chapter 3-Information and Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prince Logan has a problem

It had been a long day. He got a few new students and was expecting more. He knew he was the Prince of the land knowledge, Falina, meaning that it was his duty to teach any and all who came to him, but sometimes he couldn't help, but hate it. 

All the children had emotional needs that he didn't understand. He was raised to put knowledge and logic first, so emotions were not something he was good with, so dealing with people who say the entire world in emotions was draining, to say the least. 

Luckily none of the children were from Nysono, the land of emotions. That would have been the worse, children from there were taught to let their emotions out and that, emotions were more important than logic in the grand scheme of things. 

Logan grabbed some food from the kitchen and began looking over his lesson plan. It mostly consisted of maths, science, history, and language, but a parent had complained and now he needed to add an aspect of emotion so that the children didn't become 'emotionally stunted'

He had no idea how to do that, for Pete's sake he didn't even understand his own emotions let alone the emotions of 20 and still growing children. What was he going to do? He couldn't ask for help. He was supposed to be smart and able to figure things like this out by himself. 

He needed a plan. If he couldn't ask he needed to trick someone into helping him, but who would dumb enough. Ugh, this was going to be impossible. He decided to hang around the maids to see if he could get any good gossip, maybe something that could help him.

"Did you hear about the Prince of Nysono? Apparently, he is so overprotective of his younger siblings everyone mistakes him for his children," one of the maids said

"I heard that he tries to teach them from home, but he does a horrendous job," was the other's response.

"This information could be useful to me," Logan thought, turning this new information over in his head, looking at it from as many different angles as possible. He walked away, still musing about what to do when it hit him. 

Invite the children to be taught by him and their brother will come willingly. Now all he needed to figure out was the correct way to invite them. He couldn't make it to obvious, he couldn't let anyone know what he was doing. It would ruin his reputation that he needed help from anyone. 

While he was stopped in the middle of the hallway the maids started walking towards him and once again he caught some of their information.

"Prince Roman ran away, they say he went to the Dark Kingdom,"

"But what if his time comes while he's away?"

"Jill, darling no one ever comes back from that place, he's probably already dead," As the maids walked away their conversation got fainter and fainter. 

Logan didn't have time to worry about Prince Roman he had a letter to write.


	5. Chapter 4-Lies and Decisions

He would do anything for his siblings. Anything at all that's what he always told himself, but as he read the letter he wondered if he was really willing to do it. Could he really leave everything he's ever known behind for them though technically he didn't have to go with them, but he knew that he wouldn't let them go to such a heartless place alone.

He was stressed. That was an understatement. He was slowly breaking inside, the stress just kept building and building, but he had to hide it, he had to pretend to be happy if that meant everyone else would be happy. He would gladly be destroyed from the stress if it meant everyone else would be ok.

The kids ran by his office shouting as a nanny chased them down the hall. They were good kids, but they also needed a better education than he could provide. He reread the letter. This would offer them what they needed and it explicitly said he could join the kids. That part was mildly suspicious, but he would do anything to protect the kids even if it meant starting a war by fighting another Prince. 

"Hey, kids can you come here for a second?" Nysono's Prince asked, yelling down the hall the children had just ran down.

"We didn't do it," was the immediate response as the children raced back down the hall. 

"Ok, now I'm suspicious, but we'll deal with that later. Right now I have a question for you guys. How would you feel about going to Falina?" He asked cautiously, not wanting to alarm the kids.

They weren't dumb kids so the were immediately wary and asked, " Why would we be going there? You always complain about Prince Logan,"

The father figure started to panic and wonder how he was going to explain to the kids, who hated anything that had to do with education that the only reason they were invited was so they could get any education. He just wanted them to have the best possible life he could give them, even if it meant lying to them.

Sometimes lying was good, if it was for the right reasons, right? "Well...umm....I just thought that we needed to get out. I mean the council is still making decisions because it's not my time yet, so yeah! What do you say about it?"

The kids looked at each other, turned back to their older brother and said, "But you still hate Falina, why not go to Palatine?" They asked.

"Palatine is having some troubles at the moment, nothing to worry about, but I wouldn't want to impose upon them, also Prince Logan invited us, so it would only polite to accept his invitation," Morality explained, this time there wasn't a single lie in the sentence, so they kids began to believe him just a bit more. 

"Ok, it does sound kinda fun," his sibling said suspicion still clear in their voice. 

His younger brother added, "We'll go get ready right away, so we can soon,"

By sundown, they were all ready to go and as he sat in the front seat Nysono's prince prayed that his siblings wouldn't discover his lie, or even better he would have the courage to come clean.


	6. Chapter 5- Demons and Princes

The first thing he felt was fear. It was dark, darker than he was used to. He felt scared, the briars seemed to block out hope as well the sun. He couldn't even find a path to follow, he was lost. 

The second thing he felt was regret. What had he done? He left without even a proper goodbye. His time would come and he wouldn't be there. The balance would be upset and all because he had no self-control. 

The final thing he felt was a lie. He saw someone coming towards his with a lantern and he was sure he was saved, but then as the person approached he realized that it was a person at all, it seemed to be some sort of demon. Something about the vibe it gave off sent chills down his spine and infected his mind with dark whispers. He wanted to run, he wanted to scream out, but he couldn't he was frozen in place.

He closed his eyes and accepted that this is where he dies. That this the end. That he had no one to blame, but himself. That everything would fall apart.

"Move you idiot!" a voice screamed at him, snapping his stupor, as a young woman ran towards him, right past the monster as if it didn't even bother her. 

"Who are you?" Roman asked as the young woman grabbed his arm and started to drag him away from the monster.

"Later, we have to get away before it's friends show up," she called back to him, running faster not really caring if he could keep up. 

"Friends? They're more of those things?!?" he exclaimed, as he ran faster to keep up with her. 

"Of course, these parts of the woods are crawling with them," she said, slowing down a bit, to get her bearings, "Ok, we should be safe for now, we're close enough to the village that we should be safe,"

"They don't come to the village?" Roman asked confused as to what wold keep them away.

"Yeah, it's close enough to the castle that the Prince's powers can keep them at bay," she said, brushing her bangs out of her face as she once again began walking towards the village.

"What about the other villages? How do they stay safe?" Roman asked, concerned about the people who would have to deal with those monsters all the time.

The girl let out a small laugh, "There's only one village, not enough people for there to be more, oh I'm Jas, to answer your earlier question,"

"I'm Roman, it's a pleasure to meet you," he replied, remembering all his mandatory class on etiquette. 

"You're the prince of Palatine," Jas said as dawned upon her.

"That I am, is that going to be a problem?" he asked, not wanting to cause trouble.

"Not sure, but you should probably come to the castle and meet our Prince's, just to make sure. I'll take you there," she offered, already thinking about the quickest route.

"That would be wonderful, thank you," he responded, letting her guide him to their destination. They got to the castle, and Jas left him in the hands of one of the maids, as she went back home. Roman never found out why she was so far away from the village.

It took almost an hour for the Prince of Attisa to greet Roman, but when he did Roman was unable to look away. The man's skin was a sickly pale causing the dark bags under his eyes to appear even dark and his eyes seemed dead and lifeless as if many horrors had been seen through them, but even though was offputting Roman was still drawn to him like a moth to a flame.

"Leave," were the first words Attisa's prince said to him.


	7. Chapter 6-Mess Ups and Dinner

"He couldn't be here. No, this was not happening. Everything is bad," the mind of Attisa's prince screamed. Anyone but Roman would have been ok, but it was Roman and this was not ok. 

He ran into his room and flopped onto his bed. "Why did I do that? That was so rude? Oh god, what if he decides this was an action of war? All my people will die! We don't have an army! Oh god, what am I gonna do?" he thought as panic began to swell in his chest. 

"Sir, would you like to have dinner with our guest? Perhaps while you dine you could clear up any misunderstandings that have arisen," a familiar motherly voice said. 

"Thank you, Lena, that would help," he managed to say, calmed slightly by her presence.

"I'll go inform our guest, then I'll come back to get you for dinner. Do you think you can get dressed?" Lena asked gently, clearly worried about him. 

"No, I think I can manage," the prince said, forcing a smile on his face as the demons in his mind told him, "She thinks you're weak. You're bothering her. Why even bother?" He forced himself to get dressed, not wanting to disappoint Lena, even though his entire being screamed at him to just crawl in bed and live out the remainder of his days there.

A knock on the door. "Are you dressed?" Lena asked from just beyond as patient with him as always.

"Yeah, I'll be right down," he responded forcing his limbs to move stiffly towards the door.

"If you don't mind I'd like to walk down with you. This is the first time a guest from another kingdom I want to make sure you're ok," Lena told him concern hinted in her voice, even though she tried to hide, so he would not worry. 

He didn't say anything, he just left and put his hand in hers, allowing her to lead him to the dining room and whisper words of encouragement the entire way. She only let go of his hand at the door of the dining room and only after she gave it a squeeze of encouragement. 

He opened the door and said, "Hello, sorry about earlier, you startled me, now that I've had time to collect my thoughts I now realize that I could have dealt with this situation in a much better way," he said very formally as he remember all the manners his father taught him when he was younger. 

"It's fine, I should have given a warning. My name is Roman and your's is?" Roman asked a charming smile gracing his face that Attisa's prince found very annoying.

"I suppose you may call me Ann, even though that's not my name," was the response which Ann regretted instantly. "Why that name? Of all the names why that one?" he thought, but it was too late to change it. The words had already left his mouth and there was no going back.

"Ann, Ann what a lovely name," Roman said, testing the name in his mouth and liking how it felt. 

Ann regretted everything, but there was something about Roman that was exhilarating and he loved it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N Sorry it's a day late


	8. Chapter 7-Welcomes and Lies

He was worried, Nysono's prince was arriving today and he was not prepared at all. Well, actually everything had been prepared for the arrival, but Logan was worried that his plan would fail and people would figure out that he had no idea what he was doing. 

Logan heard someone knocking on the door and said, "Enter," 

"They've arrived and are currently in the blue sitting room," a servant said before leaving the room.

"What's going to happen is I fail? What if he finds out? How will I explain myself?" Logan thought as he left the room to greet the guests. He walked quickly to the blue sitting as if he was trying to escape his worries. He got to the sitting room and a servant opened the door for him.

"Hello, I am so glad you've agreed to come here. I am Prince Logan," he said not yet noticing Nysono's prince, but still extending his arm out for a handshake. Nysono's prince returned the handshake and Logan finally looked at him. 

"He's rather plain," Logan thought, taking in the man's brown hair, brown eyes, and facial features that some might describe as cute, but Logan just found average. 

"Thank you for inviting us. You can call me Mo and these are my siblings, Missy and Ian," Nysono's prince replied with a polite smile as he let go of Logan's hand.

Logan turned his attention to the children and told them, "Oh yes, I will be glad to have you two as my newest pupils," forcing a smile onto his face to appear pleasant and none threatening.

The two children looked at each other and at the same time asked, "What do you mean your pupils?" 

Logan found the symmetry rather creepy, but answered, "I'm going to teach you two, that's why I invited you to come here," He looked over at Mo and say that his face had paled sometime during Logan's conversation with the kids. 

"Mo told us that you just wanted to give us a tour of the kingdom," the boy, Ian said, turning to look at his brother with a somewhat hurt expression. 

"Did I? Wowie, I don't remember doing that at all," Mo said with a strained smile. 

Logan could tell that the situation was going towards some dangerous waters, so before either of the children could reply to Mo's obvious like he said, "I believe dinner is ready, how about we all go eat and then go retire for the evening. I'm sure you've had a long journey,"

They walked to the dining room in an awkward and thick silence that took up the entire hallway and seemed to be almost choking all of them, making it impossible to get out any words, even just senseless chatter. 

Logan held open the door for Mo and Mo gentle brushed him as he passed causing a shot of electricity at the place of contact. This made their dinner very interesting.


	9. Chapter 8-Sparks and Dinner

"How do I fix this?" Mo thought as he walked with Logan and the kids to the dining hall. "I have two options I can come clean, or I can say it was a misunderstanding and hopefully they'll believe me. They should, I don't lie and most people think I'm dumb, so it'll be easy to convince them," Mo reasoned, trying to make it seem like lying would be the better option, it might have been, but only for him and not everyone. 

Logan held open the door and as Mo brushed passed a spark of electricity danced across his skin. Mo knew exactly what it meant. "What? Now? Him? But I barely know him. We haven't even had a proper conversation, why would we be Connected? I didn't even feel the Pull," Mo though, he shook his head, he must have made a mistake, it couldn't be what he thought it was. There was no way.

The kids were already sitting down at the table, but Mo didn't take his seat right away, he waited until their host, Logan took his seat before sitting down. It was only polite. Once they were all seated a boy around Missy's age came and poured wine into Logan's glass.

he went to pour wine into Mo's, but Mo gently told him, "No thank you, I don't drink," the boy nodded and grabbed the pitcher of water, pouring some into Mo's and the children's glasses, when he looked at Missy they smiled causing the boy the blush and almost drop the pitcher as he scurried away.

"So are we going to talk about the teaching thing or not?" Ian asked bluntly. He wasn't the most diplomatic, but he was loyal as they come.

"I sent a letter inviting you to come here so I may teach you the skills you will need to be productive members of society. I have no idea what your brother told you two," Logan answered turning to Mo as if asking for clarification on what he told them.

The pressure was on. Mo could either decide to come clean to the kids or continue lying, going farther away from the values of his society. "I misunderstood the letter," he made his choice, "I was very busy and stressed at the time,"

"I think we should stay. Me and Ian need to be taught and you're too busy," Missy said startling everyone especially Ian who was certain Missy would want to go home.

Mo smiled and asked Logan, "Is that ok with you?" he didn't want to intrude even though Logan had invited them there. 

"Of course, I did invite you here," Logan said politely, "If you'll excuse me I have some business to attend to. One of the servants will show you to your rooms," with those words Logan stood up and left the room.

The same boy from earlier showed them their rooms and when Mo was alone in his room he finally thought about the shot of electricity from earlier. "I'm screwed,"


	10. Chapter 9-Jokes and Questions

"Ann, what a lovely name," Roman said, loving the way Ann's name felt on his tongue. He smiled at Ann and he noticed how the moment he did Ann's pale face gained a bit of rosy color in the cheeks, but he thought nothing of it. 

He stared at Ann waiting for a reply, but he got none, so he responded, "Wow, Roman thank you for the compliment!" in a teasing tone like they had known each other for years, and Roman honestly felt as if they had even though this was their first meeting. 

He saw a small almost not even there smile on Ann's face and he thought, "Oh god, that is the most beautiful thing in the world," he blinked a few times and shook his head, "No, it's not he is not, he's offputting, look how pale he is and how dead his eyes are," his mind continued, but oddly enough Ann's eyes weren't as dead as they had been a day earlier. 

"Are you ok?" Ann asked, concerned for his guest clear in his voice.

Roman smiled and said, "Yes, I'm just tired from my trip," He was lying even though the trip had tired him it wasn't the reason for his strange behavior, but even Roman himself didn't know why he was acting like this. 

"Oh, I'll show you to your room then," Ann replied, standing up from the table and gesturing for Roman to do the same, which he did.

"Why don't you ask a servant to do this? You're a Prince." Roman questioned once they were in the hallway.

Ann stopped in his tracks and answered, "The servants in this castle are most likely spending time with their families right now. I would hate to bother them or even worse take them from their families even for a moment. They already do so much for me, why make them do something I can easily do myself?"

Roman took a moment to think about it before responding, "You're right. I never thought of it that way before," and he hadn't he had never thought about the maids or pages' lives, he had always just assumed that they had nothing better to do than serve him and now he felt guilty, how was he suppose to be a good leader if he didn't think about those below him. 

"Most people don't," was all Ann said before continuing on in silence. 

"What just happened? Things were going so good and now he's practically running from me," Roman thought and it was true, Ann's pace had been progressively getting faster and faster though not running yet. Roman quickened his pace to keep up with Ann and all the while he was wondering why Ann's opinion mattered so much to him, it hadn't even been a full day since they meet, and only 3 since he had left his home.

They got to Roman's room and Ann just pointed at it and left. Roman stepped inside and was speechless, the gorgeous, rich red walls with golden trim and flowing white lines painted on the far wall, framing the only window in the room. 

Roman sat down on the bed and thought, "What am I going to do?"


	11. Chapter 10- Dreams and Guilt

He was upset. Not mad, just upset. He didn't know why he had expected more from Roman, they didn't even know each other, but he did expect more or at least hope for more than what seemed to be willful ignorance that the servants were people and had their own lives. 

"How do you have people take care of you, your entire life and not even think for a moment that they have better things to do?" Ann thought as he walked towards his bedroom after dropping Roman off in one of the many unused guest rooms. 

He finally got to his room and relaxed. Smiling at how dark it was in the room, he crawled under the covers and closed his eyes. It took about an hour, but finally sleep carried him away. 

_____________

He was sitting outside the door to his father's study, his mother had asked him to get his father for her, but he was scared to. His father was a powerful man and always said that he did not have time for a little boy especially one so weak. 

He gathered his courage and weakly knocked on the door. His father came out and asked, "What do you want?" in cold tone.

"Mom wanted you to go see her in her sitting room," he mumbled staring at his feet and not daring to meet his father's eyes.

His father sighed and replied, "Speak up boy and look me in the eye for once. How are you suppose to run the kingdom if you can't even look me in the eye?"

Ann looked up and repeated a little bit louder, "Mom wants to see you in her sitting room," he ducked his head once again, not able to meet his father's disapproving gaze for too long.

"Why didn't she just send a servant to tell me?" Ann's father asked rhetorically, but Ann didn't understand and tried to come up with an answer. He knew why, his mom hated bothering servants, but his father always told her that they were there to be used. Ann didn't think his parents got along.

Ann's father began walking towards his wife's sitting room and Ann silently trailed after him not having anything better to do than try and eavesdrop on his parents. He knew his father wouldn't notice him and that he could hide from his mom.

Ann's father walked into the room and asked, "What do you want Alana?" in a bored tone. Ann knew that his father was really asked, "Why am I here?" and "How can I get out of here faster?" 

Alana replied, "I'm worried about how you treat Ann, he's a growing boy he needs his father's love, not hate," She glared at Ann's father. Ann remembered servants tell him that his parents were once madly in love, he didn't believe it. 

"I don't hate him and his name isn't Ann," his father responded gruffly as he ran his hand through his hair.

Alana didn't even try to hide her harsh laugh as she said, "Jay, you don't even know his real name, so don't pretend that I'm the one in the wrong,"

Ann's father suddenly stood up and yelled, "You have no idea what this feels like!! They were all stronger than him and they died! You don't have the right to do this, not after what you did!" before storming out, not noticing Ann who was trembling by the door. He hated it when his parents fought.

That night the demons appeared. That night his parents died. That night everything changed.

_____________

Ann woke up in a cold sweat. Sometimes he believed the nightmares would be better than the memories. Better than the guilt.


	12. Chapter 11- Formal and Informal Meetings

Logan didn't go to bed until late. Late for him was of course 3 hours before he had to get up. He didn't plan on staying up so late, but he was research to do. It was an unplanned session, so he was not at all prepared, but he had questions that needed answers as soon as possible.

The lack of sleep didn't help him at all in the meeting with his advisors. He was slow-witted and distracted. He could barely keep his eyes open which just add to the comedic effect when one of his advisors asked, "Are we planning on getting involved in Prince Roman's disappearance?" and Logan responded with his head shooting up, eyes widening and nearly falling out his chair.

"Wait, I remember the maids talking about that a few weeks ago. Why are we only now mentioning it?" Logan thought before saying, "I propose we send some Researches to find him before it's his time," he said in a cool and confident tone, pretending he didn't almost just fall out of his chair.

"How do you propose we start the investigation?" The head librarian asked, taking out a black leather bound book that had been passed down from librarian to librarian. 

Logan sat up straighter in his chair and replied, "Start by subtly questioning his father. They were close, he might have an idea of where his son went," he was getting ready to go, but he was interrupted by a question.

"The king is ill, what if he passes before we get the information we need?" an apprentice to one of the advisors asked.

Thought about it for a minute before standing up and saying, "Asks the servants, they always know," 

He had planned on going back to the library to do more research on the electricity, but on the way there the children, Missy and Ian, had slammed into him almost knocking him over. "Sorry," they said quickly before sprinting down the hall.

Logan wondered why they were running, but he got his answer a few moments later when Mo came running down the hall after them. Unlike the children, Mo tried to dodge Logan. This was a mistake. He didn't hit into Logan, but instead, body slammed into the wall with a loud thud. 

"Are you ok?" Logan asked, moving to help Mo, but paused when he remembered the weird electricity he felt whenever they made contact with each other. 

Mo stood up and brushed himself off before answering, "Yeah, I think the sound made it seem worse than it actually was,"

Logan didn't believe him but still replied, "Ok, if you say you're ok I'll believe it," He yawned and started to walk away, but he didn't get very far before he had to stop. 

He stopped because Mo called after him, "You should maybe go get some sleep. You seem tired," Logan was confused about why Mo would express concern about him. They had only met the say before, but for some reason, he decided to take Mo's advice and go to bed.

Before he fell asleep he made a note on a stray piece of paper. The note just said, "Find out why Mo is different from everyone else,"


	13. Chapter 12-Games And Education

Saying that Patton was embarrassed would be an understatement. He had made a complete fool of himself in front of Logan and all because the kids wanted to play tag and he could never say no to their puppy dog eyes. It wouldn't have been so bad if he could have avoided body slamming into the wall, and he was usually good about not body slamming himself into walls, but Logan was there and when Logan was nearby Patton's mind melted as he got butterflies in his stomach. 

He tried to play it off like nothing by telling Logan that he should get some sleep, but he felt like his voice was too tight and high pitched to even seem normal, but somehow Logan didn't notice this. He might be incredibly smart, but he was surprisingly dumb when it came to emotions. 

"Ok, play time is over kids, I need to write a letter to dad telling him that we got here ok and that'll you both will be starting your lessons soon," Patton told them when he finally caught up to them after spending a few minutes making sure there was no way he could run into Logan again. 

They groaned and put up a fuss, but Patton scolded them by saying, "That's no way to behave. If you want to play with someone try and find some children your age to play with," before walking down the hall towards his room while thinking about what to say in the letter that wouldn't make their father think they needed to come home immediately. 

The king was temperamental and it was hard to predict how he would react in certain situations, so it was almost impossible to avoid some sort argument over trivial matters and when matters were important like letting all three of your possible heirs stay in a foreign land then you were guaranteed and argument that you would most likely would lose because he was the king, but after living with the king for his entire life and spending most of his time learning from the king Patton knew his most of his moods pretty well, so he was almost certain he could write this letter in a way that would not only convince him to allow his kids to stay but have him thinking it was the best idea and would benefit their kingdom. 

As he composed the letter Patton started to think everything he could lose and why he needed this letter to be perfect because if it wasn't Missy and Ian were going to be forcibly removed from the best learning opportunity they had ever had, and even though they're smart kids they wouldn't thrive under Nysono's education system, it wasn't the best. That gave Patton and idea, he grabbed another paper and made a note to ask Logan what could be done to make a better education system. 

"Why shouldn't we work together to help the children? Give them the best education, so they can have the best future, and use that future to change the world for the better," Patton thought as he tried to figure out when the best time to ask Logan would be, completely forgetting about the letter to his father.


	14. Chapter 13- Thoughts and Exploring

He didn't know what he did wrong, but he knew he did something wrong. That much was obvious from the Ann had acted, cold and detached, even though Roman thought he was becoming friends with Ann even though they had only known each other for a few hours, and had only been in the kingdom for a day, but in that short time he had fallen in love with how mysteriously beautiful it was here.

He knew he couldn't stay here for long even though he wanted to, he wanted to stay here more than he had ever wanted anything in his entire life, but he knew he would have to go back. His time would come and he would be bound to his kingdom as it's king, and when his time came he would feel the pull towards his soulmate, the one person who had the ability to rule beside him and make him a better person.

He didn't know what either of those things felt like, he had never thought to ask his father because he was too preoccupied with his own life of adventuring and flirting with anyone who would stand still long enough for him to come up with a terrible pickup line. 

He needed to walk, maybe if his body was moving then his brain would get the memo and start moving too, producing a solution to his problems, so he pushed himself out of bed and walked out the door. He had no idea where he was going or if he would even be able to get back to his room, but he didn't care.

After walking for a few minutes he ended up facing a door that had the most gorgeous carvings of lions and flowers that he had ever seen in his entire life. He had to open the door, he knew he shouldn't, but every molecule in his body screamed for to open the door and see what was behind it, and so he did.

The room was dusty as if it hadn't been used in years and the walls were lined with shelves that were packed full of books. There were so many books that it seemed like you would never be able to truly read them all even if you had 10 lifetimes to try and do it. Roman walked to one of the shelves and noticed that it wasn't full of just any old books like he thought but instead they were filled with journals. They were all inscribed with someone's name and the volume number. Roman grabbed the nearest one which said, "Jay, 32" and began to read.

"I am scared. I am to be a father. I wonder what type of father I will be, I hope I am nothing like my father. He hated me. Mother always said he was afraid of how I would act when he died, so he kept me a distance to protect me and the kingdom. Sometimes I think she was lying. I want to know my kid, I want to their name and their favorite things. I want to be a good father. I want to protect them. I already love the child so much I fear I would lose myself if something ever happened to them. Alana has already picked out some of her favorite names for the child, if they're a girl they'll be called Annabell, and if they're a boy-"

"What are you doing in here?" a voice asked, pulling Roman from his reading.


	15. Chapter 14-A Sleepless Night

He couldn't sleep. This was the case most nights because of what seemed to be endless nightmares, and yes he did have a particularly bad one tonight, though it may have just been a memory, that was not the reason he was up right now. The reason he was up was that he simply couldn't get the fear that he was a horrible person out of his head. This was a common occurrence, but even though he should be used to it by now he wasn't, and it still almost impossible to fall back asleep. Only one thing worked most of the time, and that was going to his father's study, so he slipped out the door and began the walking towards his father's studying, relishing how cold the floor felt against his bare feet.

He quietly opened the door and saw someone reading one of the journals. "What are you doing here?" he asked. When the person turned around he saw that it was Roman.

"Couldn't sleep, so I decided to go exploring," Roman replied with a smile, trying to make it seem like he wasn't just snooping as he set the book on the desk, with the book open and the pages facing downward.

Ann cocked his head and asked in a somewhat caring tone, "What's keeping you up?" He knew Roman had been snooping but decided to ignore it because there was nothing important in the journals, just records of kings past.

Roman replied, "Just thoughts," not really wanting to get into details.

Ann wasn't letting him off the hook that easy. "About what?" he pressed.

"When I left, I left a note and I don't even know if it's been found," Roman responded with a sigh.

Ann's eyes went wide and in a shocked voice he yelled, "What?"

Roman blinked a couple times startled by the sudden change in Ann's tone and asked, "Why are you acting like that?"

"You're an idiot! You have to leave as soon as possible," Ann answered, furious at Roman had done.

Roman furrowed his eyebrows and replied, "Why? I thought you enjoyed my company, although you did seem to react negatively earlier,"

Ann couldn't believe how dumb Roman was as he said, "That's not it. They'll think you were kidnapped and wage war on my kingdom to get you back,"

"They have no idea the size of your army or where the villages are. It would be idiotic to attack," Roman told him, trying to put him at easy.

Ann shook his head. "There is no army and only one village. I can't risk my people because you want an adventure! You have to leave as soon as you can," he said in an almost pleading voice.

He knew he had to leave, but he didn't want to, "If I leave will you visit me?" Roman asked, hoping that he would at least get to see Ann again.

In a defeated voice, Ann told Roman, "Not if, when. And no, I can't I'm bound here. My time came years ago,"

It was Roman's turn to be shocked. "Wait, you're a king? I thought you were a prince and you're parents were away!" He replied.

Ann nodded, "My parents died the day it became my time. It's my fault they died," he explained.

"It's not your f-" Roman started but was interrupted by Ann, who's mood had once again changed seemingly out of nowhere.

"Enough! You will leave in the morning. Hopefully, it's not too late to fix the mess you caused," Ann said before strutting out of the room and slamming the door behind him.

When he got to his room he slid down the wall and cried. "Did I do the right thing?" he thought before letting go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N I think these book will be ending in the next few months, and I think that the plot will start to move along a lot faster. There might even be longer chapters ahead! :)


	16. Chapter 15-Wake Ups and Plans for Tonight

He hadn't meant to sleep for so long, but a day after he had gone to bed he was still asleep. Maybe it was because he had been awake for the last week and the only reason it wasn't longer was that Mo had told him to get some sleep. The only reason he woke up was that one of the servants had brought him some breakfast.

"Sorry to wake you up, but I thought you might want some food," the man said as he placed the tray if food on Logan's desk before walking out of the room.

He quickly at breakfast and went to the library, but on the way there he was intercepted by one of his advisors who lead him to an impromptu meeting. 

"Prince Logan, sorry to bother you, but we have a real problem. Prince Roman was last seen by the dark kingdom and no one could find a note. The Duke of Palatine believes that the dark kingdom kidnapped him using dark magic"

"And what does the King think?" Logan asked, knowing that the Duke is the type of person to stir up trouble for the fun of it.

"He hasn't woken up in a week. The doctors think he could die any moment," was the solemn reply.

He took a moment to think before asking, "Do we have any idea what's going on in the dark kingdom?" hoping that there was a way to shift blame away from the kingdom. Maybe if nothing had changed then he could pretend the evidence didn't point to the fact that Prince Roman was probably kidnapped. 

"The constant storms had seemed to have ended, but now they're back. Entering or exiting the kingdom would be very difficult," was the response. 

Logan asked, "What do you recommend?" He knew what the answer would be, but he hoped for the first time in his life, that he was wrong.

Immediately, "An army. Send them, get the prince, and destroy the briars," 

Logan paused, remembering the one thing he had been told about the dark kingdom and said, "But the briars protect us from them,"

"No, not anymore, and even if by some chance it does we'll have the upper hand of being prepared for an attack, they will not," was the reply.

Logan sighed, "Ok, prepare the army. We'll leave as soon as possible,"

He walked out the room feeling drained even though he had just woken up a few minutes ago, but he fought his tiredness and went to the library. He had begun to make some headway in his research. A lot of it was coming up with things such as love, and the old soulmate stories, though at first, Logan didn't believe them, but as he spent more time with Mo and the feelings got stronger and stronger he started to.

A shouted "Lo!" caused him to turn around. He already knew who it was, only one person ever called him Lo.

"Hello, Mo. How are you?" He asked, blushing a little as Mo grabbed his hand and began to walk with him. In the past couple of weeks, Mo had grown more and more affectionate. 

"Amazing! Me and the kids hung out all day. They were super happy when they realized they didn't have any classes today!," Mo replied enthusiastically. 

Logan smiled at how cute he was. "Sorry about that. I accidentally slept in much longer than usual," he said.

"Sleep with me tonight!" a pause before a now blushing Mo continued, "I didn't mean it like that. I meant that we should share a bed tonight. I can wake you up in the morning."

Logan could barely contain his laughter as he responded, "I might not be able to. I stay up rather late and I wouldn't want to disturb you,"

Mo frowned and told him, "I will drag you to bed. You need to sleep more,"

Logan shook his head and sighed as he said, "Ok, but I'll just stay up later tomorrow night," Honestly, Mo was turning him into a huge pushover.

Mo just smiled and replied, "Not if I have you sleep with me every night,"


	17. Chapter 16- Letters and Libraries

He couldn't believe he just said that. He had meant to be subtle in his flirting, but of course, he had to be blunt about it. He has zero tact, but hopefully, Logan didn't think that he was an idiot. That being said he was incredibly happy that Logan would be getting some sleep and there was a chance for cuddles.

He was walking to his room, humming happily, when a servant stopped him and said, "I'm sorry to disturb you, but you have a letter,"

"It's fine don't worry about it," he replied taking the letter and continuing his walk back to his room."

He read the letter and his face paled, it said, "Dearest son, I have not recently heard a word from you, this leads me to think that if you're not responsible enough to send a letter to your father then you're not responsible enough to stay in another kingdom. Come home as quickly as possible," 

It was short, to the point, and nonnegotiable. Patton knew that, but he had to try. He loved it here, his love was here, so he started to write, as fast as he could. "Esteemed Father, I apologize for not sending word, but I was busy helping Missy and Ian in their lessons. They're learning a lot, and I have an idea on how to improve out kingdom but we'll need Falina's help to do it. Please allow us to stay for longer,"

He rushed into the hall and looked for a servant to take the letter for him. When he couldn't find one he thought to check the library because Logan was usually there and there was usually a servant near Logan.

When he got there e couldn't find Logan anywhere, but he did find Logan's work area which was filled with books and scattered papers. For some reason, he decided to look at them. He wasn't that curious, it was more like a subtle interest. He would have been fine not knowing what Logan was researhing.

As he looked he began to notice a pattern. All of the books and notes were about love and soulmates. He smiled and thought, "Maybe Logan feels the same way," He shook his head, the last time he got distracted he forgot to send the letter, and look where that got him.

"Mo, what are you doing here?" Logan asked when he saw him.

Mo smiled and answered, "I have a letter that needs to be delivered so I was looking for a servant,"

"Let me help you with that," he took the letter and called out, "Jill, I need a letter delivered,"

Almost immediately Jill appeared and replied, "Of course, I'll get right on it," before taking the letter and leaving.

Mo looked at the clock and said, "It's getting late we should go to bed soon," Logan looked like he was going to protest, but Mo cut him off by grabbing his arm and pulling him away while saying, "You promised,"

"Ok," Logan sighed and allowed himself to be lead to Mo's bedroom. Once he was in the room he continued, "But we're not doing this again,"

"What if I told you secrets? Then would you do this again?" Mo asked as he changed into his pajamas.

Logan was trying his hardest not to stare as he answered, "Maybe, depends on the secret,"

Mo spent a minute thinking before he replied, "My actually name is Patton, I don't want to be king, and I'm into other guys,"

Logan was silent, and Mo was worried that he had gone to far until Logan said, "Ok, we can dude this more, but only if I can call you Patton,"

He smiled and tackled Logan onto the bed while saying, "Yes!!"


	18. Chapter 17-A Conversation and A Warning.

He couldn't leave even if he wanted to, wish he didn't. He was supposed to leave last week after the fight with Ann, but the weather had been too dangerous and the monster attack's too frequent, so he stayed inside, avoiding Ann.

It wasn't that hard to avoid him considering Ann was usually in the village helping people out with damage caused by the storms and monsters, but on the off chance he wasn't in the village he was in his room and he wouldn't let anyone in.

Roman knew he should talk to Ann and sort things out, but he didn't want to, so he spent time with the servants, learning about the kingdom. It was so weird for him learning that a place that he had always been told was evil had a pretty interesting history.

"When did the briars happen?" Roman asked as he was helping out Lena in the kitchen.

Lena didn't even look away from the recipe when she answered. "Almost 50 years ago, my mother was a little girl when they came up,"

Roman asked, "Do you know why?" He had never been taught anything about the briars except that the protected us.

She started mixing together ingredients and replied "The king during that time wanted to protect everyone, so he made the briars, luckily, the queen was able to convince him to make it where if a ruler is strong enough the briars will die,"

He furrowed his eyebrows and said, "Wait, they were made by a king?" Every time he wondered about the briars them being man made was something had never ever crossed his thoughts.

She nodded absentmindedly and replied, "Yes, all of the royal family has some sort of magic. Ann's father was able to see some semblance of the future,"

"What can Ann do?" he asked, even though he knew it could be considered rude to ask, but his curiosity got the best to him.

Lena gestured to a window and answered, "Look outside. The weather is tied to the boy's emotions and I'm sure it isn't the only things tied to them,"

Roman cocked his head wondering what had got Ann this upset and what else could be tied to his emotions. "What do you mean by that?" he asked.

She waved her hand, dismissing the question and said, "Oh nothing, could you pass me the sugar?"

He handed her the sugar and asked, "Does Ann know about this?"

"Not at all, we were waiting until he was older, but then his parents died and we wanted to protect him," she answered, sounding like she was now paying attention to the conversation.

His heart was beating fast, he knew he shouldn't ask, but he still did. "If you don't mind me asking, how did they die?"

She looked around before whispering, "They were the first victims of the monsters. Poor Ann was the one to find their bodies" He didn't know what to say. He had no idea Ann went through any of that. Lena continued, "Ever since then he's been overly protective off everyone in his life, and he's tried to stop new people from coming in,"

Jas bolts in looking terrified and practically yelled, "Lena! He's hurt and there' an army on the border!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting close to the end, I know I'm gonna end up doing a huge A/N at the end of this, but any suggestions on how to end it. You may just change the planned ending.


	19. Chapter 18- In The End He Never Knew

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is gonna be painful

It happened, he wasn't able to protect them. He had tried so hard, but in the end, it wasn't enough. In the end, his kingdom was defenseless because he had fallen off of a stupid roof trying to fix the damage he unknowingly did with his raging storm of emotions involving Roman.

As he laid on the ground as the army came, he thought. He thought about his life, his parents, the monsters, his own fears, all the things he did wrong, and the few things he did right.

There were so few things he did right. He could only name a handful, and they were such small things, simple smiles, letting anyone live in the castle, making laws to protect the weak and defenseless, but in the end, it wasn't enough. There was so much wrong and he tried his hardest. His hardest was never good enough.

He did so many things wrong. He hurt so many people that he couldn't even begin to list the people affected by his failures. It seemed that for every good thing he did he did 20 bad. He had never meant to hurt anyone, but he did.

It was so cruelly ironic that the source of his failures was his fear of failure. It would keep his trapped room, unable to even walk to the door without panicking. He hated disappointed everyone, but he was weak just like the king of briars.

No, he was even worse than the king of briars because he created monsters that hurt everyone. He knew it was him, there was no one else who could possibly so horrible that the could create creatures of darkness that terrorize the people he swore to protect and those who promised to protect him.

His parents, they weren't the best by the long shot. His mother wanted a girl so much that she never used his real name and his father kept him at arms distance, but for the longest time they were all he had, so even now knowing how bad they actually were he still loved them. He knew he shouldn't, but his mindset was always, "Aren't I worse? I killed them,"

He thought about his life. How much felt like the bad guy. He knew he could be the good guy, but he didn't know how, so he talked to those he thought were good, the servants. He learned from the servants and the villagers and tried to become one of them, but the weight of the crown sat heavy upon his head and divided him from them.

When Roman came part of him was ecstatic, he finally had someone that wasn't on the other side of a great divide, and they grew closer and he fell in love too quickly. He should have known that only bad things would come from this, he should have sent Roman away much sooner, but he was selfish and lonely, and he just wanted to have a friend for once instead of people paid to be his friend.

His selfishness is why is people are now in danger from an approaching army and he can't help them at all. His selfishness is the army will march into his home and attack the closest thing he has to a family. His selfishness is why Roman will run in front of a sword. His selfishness is why a relationship will almost fall apart. His selfishness is why, when he waked up he will make the dumbest decision of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this time I'm planning on 4 more chapters, 1 for Logan, 1 for Patton, 1 for Roman, and an epilogue.


	20. Chapter 19- A Death

He still wasn't sure if this was right, but it was too late to go back. They were at the edge of the briars and he could smell rain. It wasn't supposed to rain to day, or tomorrow, or even this week. The kingdoms have been in a small drought recently, so why was it raining there.

He shook his head, he didn't have time to think about it, he had to go quickly. Something was off here and he didn't want to stay any longer than he had too. He gave the command for them to march forward, even though he felt like they should be running like something was coming for them and if it found them they would be dead.

His heart was pounding when something jumped out of a bush. He had to stifle the scream of pure terror that threatened to tear out of his throat when he saw the monstrosity in front of him.

It snarled and circled them for a minute before pouncing on one of the soldiers, ripping out their throat. No one moved for a second, frozen in the fear that had begun to wrap around them, pinning to the ground, until the monster lifted its head. It's teeth dripping red from its victim.

The soldiers rushed forward to attack the beast, and Logan slipped away. He didn't want to bring an army anyway, so this was the perfect opportunity, as he looked back at the carnage was unbelievably glad he had told Patton to stay at the castle where he would be safe.

He walked through the forest, well more like ran until he got to the castle. He spent a moment wondering how to get in, until he decided that the best way would be to walk in and explain what was happening.

It seemed like no one was there, so he began to wandering around, looking for where they could be keeping Prince Roman when someone ran into him, knocking him over.

"Where is he?" the person yelled, not evening noticing him and running out the door. Logan gets up and follows him because somehow he knows it's Roman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's so late I've had a busy few days


	21. Chapter 20- Hope

He knew that he shouldn't be here. He knew that it was dangerous, but he was worried and coming here helped, it gave him a chance to be useful. Sometimes he felt like he wasn't useful, so this was an improvement. He waited a few hours after the army left before he saddled up a horse and left. He was faster than the army, so he arrived a day before they did. 

It was beautiful here in an odd way. Some may think it was unnerving, but he saw how breath taking it was, and part of him wanted to protect it, keep it from harm and watch it grow and become more than people think it could ever be.

He spent an entire day trying to locate the village and marveling at how peaceful it was here. It may storm a lot and strange creatures may be watching him, but the others animals were peaceful and kind, and the view when the rain died down was gorgeous. He came to the village and was surprised to find someone who appeared to be napping on the ground, but as he got closer he realized they were hurt. 

Patton rushed over and asked, "Are you ok?"

"Who are you?" the boy asked as he sat up. He sounded scared.

"Patton, where are you hurt," he answered in a calm voice, hoping to ease the boy's fears. It didn't work.

"I have to go," he tried to stand up but failed.

Patton replied, "Woah, slow down kiddo, wherever you have to be can wait," placing his hand on the boy's shoulder.

The boy brought his hands to his hair and practically yelled, "No! I can't, they're in danger,"

"Who's in danger? No one's here," Patton asked confusion coating his voice.

The boy ignored him. "No, no, this can't be happening, I have to find them. I have to protect them," He mumbled to himself, clearly in distress.

"It's ok, breathe, I'm sure they're fine," Patton said, soothingly.

"How can you know, how do you know they're not hurt and dying," the boy asked, on the verge of tears.

Patton sighs gently, "I don't but what I do know is that we only ever have hope,"

The boy chuckled a little, "Hope? I lost that long ago,"

"You're still fighting for them, you haven't lost hope yet," Patton replied with a sad smiled.

The boy paused, he was so young, but he carried a burden that made him seem older than time in that moment. "Thank you, I know where they might be," was all he said before getting up and walking away. Patton wanted to go after him, but he knew the boy had his own journey, separate from Patton's and the only reason they had even meet was an odd twist fate.

He got up and walked forward, his brain did not know where he was going, but his heart did, and he ended up at two graves, hidden away from sight. He sat down with them for a time and opened his heart, letting himself feel. He got up, gently weeping though he knew not why, and walked towards the castle.

He hoped he would get there in time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N Sorry it's late again, I've been having some breathing problems, hopefully it clears up soon


	22. Chapter 21-At What Risk?

He needed to find him. He had to save him. He had to fix this. This was all his fault. He should have left sooner. He should have told someone where he was going. He should have never come, but he did and he couldn't change the past. All he could do was go forward and hope there was to fix this. 

The moment he heard that Ann was hurt he ran out, knocking someone down in the process, but he didn't care. He had to find him and fix his mistakes. He knew that even if he did fix his mistakes nothing could go back to the way it was. The people who live here could never go back to how things were now that the world knew about them.

As he ran his thoughts got darker and darker, propelling him forward until he tripped on a log. "Are you ok?" a familiar voice asked.

"Ann," Roman breathed out, tears forming in his eyes.

Ann smiles a little. "Yeah, that's me," he replies.

"You're ok," Roman replied almost as if he couldn't believe it.

Ann shrugged and said, "Debatable, but do you know where the villagers are?"

Roman's heart clenched, he knew Ann would go to them, leaving him behind. "The castle, I think," he muttered just loud enough for Ann to hear.

"Good. Ro, listen to me, go find whoever is in charge of the army and tell them what's happened and leave. Don't ever come back, forget about everything that's happened here," Ann told him while grabbing his face and smiling in a pitying way.

"What?" He refused to believe it.

Ann;s voice small as he said, "If you stay more will want to come and I can't risk it."

"Ann," he begs.

Ann shakes his head, his voice weak, "No, no more. I can't be weak. They need to be safe and you being here is a danger to their safety."

"Please," This wasn't how he wanted their story to go.

"Ro, we both knew this wouldn't last,"

"We could make it last," He needed him to stay. He needed this.

Ann asked, "At what cost?" his voice sounding disappointed,

"What does that matter?" He knew how much it mattered, but he still hoped he could change Ann's mind.

"I'm not willing to risk people's lives for a happy ending," Ann replied fiercely. 

"You won't gain anything if you don't risk something!" He didn't want to let go.

"Not others, never others," Ann said softly before leaving.

He cried. He didn't know how much time had passed, but he got up and went to the castle, hoping to find happiness, but knowing there would only be misery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's so late I've been really sick recently, but hopefully, we should be back on schedule


	23. Chapter 22-The Castle

It was exactly as it had always been, but not how it would always be because today everything would change.

When Ann left Roman he was also leaving behind his only hope for stopping the storm brewing inside him, the same storm that would eventually take his life, but my dear reader, Ann didn't know this, all he knew was that Roman was willing to risk innocent lives for his own happiness, and that was not okay with Ann.

The castle stood tall 2 miles from the village, in the past that made it just far enough to make it seem separate and cold to the troubles of the village, but close enough to punish the disobedient, but ever since Ann became king the distance made it seem lonely and sad and the closeness made it seem like a shy friend waiting to be invited into the conversation. 

As Ann ran towards it he knew that what happened next would change everything, he didn't know how he knew it, but he did. Normally, that realization would have stopped him dead in his tracks, but now it just made him run faster. He was still terrified of course, but it didn't matter at the moment all that mattered was the safety of his people.

The moment he entered the castle it was clear the village wasn't here, but he held out some irrational hope that maybe, just maybe they were hiding in one of the lower rooms to protect them from the large storm that brewing outside. 

"Yes, that's it," Ann decided as he began to tear through the castle looking for them. When he was about to go down the staircase leading to the basement, he ran into someone. At first, he thought it was one of the villagers and he was filled with instant relief, but a moment later when the person used his *real* name it was clear, Ann has made a horrible mistake.

"KIng Virgil we have many matters to discuss, but the most important is the whereabouts of Prince Roman, and what you did to him,"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I literally have no excuse for the poor quality, shortness, and lateness of this chapter. This is not my best work, and I am not at all happy with it, but I didn't want to delay an update any longer, and I am sorry for how long this update took, I will try to be better at updating. Please comment so I know where I can approve and what y'all want to see.  
> -Bee
> 
> (My tumblr is @the-prince-and-the-emo)


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